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Johnson happy to play third fiddle aboard pace express

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BANGALORE: Mitchell Johnson believes an intimidatory pace
attack of himself, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait will unsettle
Australia's opponents during the World Cup.

The left-armer, an unused squad member at the 2007 tournament,
said he relished the prospect of being a first-change bowler after
openers Lee and Tait, believing it would ensure batsmen get no
respite from the pace barrage.

''I enjoy the fact Brett Lee and Shaun Tait get to run in with
that new ball and do their job. Shaun bowls very fast and likes to
bowl that short ball, and I think that [approach] could work over
here, so I think we're in a pretty good position with our bowling
attack,'' he said.

''We can all bowl in that 140km/h to 150km/h bracket - Shaun and
Brett can bowl over that as well - and no one is really keen on
facing anything like that. I think we'd be one of the only teams
going around like that, so I think that's a bonus for us.''

While the wicket-taking capabilities of the trio have never been
disputed - captain Ricky Ponting said Australia would have no
excuse for not regularly breaking partnerships with such an attack
- Johnson rejected the notion Australia could not afford to play
all three in the same side because of their potential to be
punished when their bowling is awry.

''I think we work pretty well together. Obviously there was a
lot of talk about us leaking too many runs. I think Brett Lee did
an exceptional job through that one-day series and, with that
experience, I think it's going to help myself and Shaun through
this tournament. It probably showed towards the end of the one-day
series [against England].''

The practice matches are a key test of Australia's pace-focused
bowling plan, as India and South Africa - they play the latter
tomorrow, again in Bangalore - are second and fourth respectively
in the world 50-over rankings.

''We've got an aggressive bowling attack,'' Johnson said.
''We'll have to sit down and have look at it after … and see
if it works. If not, [we will] look at what else we can do. But
we're going to be smart about what we're going to do out there. If
you look at the last Test series here [last October], I think we
did a pretty good job with the bowling - we got pretty close in
that Mohali game - so we have to be smart about our game, but I
think we still have to be aggressive.''

If Australia want to play a more defensive-type paceman to
complement the express trio, it will be either Doug Bollinger or
John Hastings. In that case, Australia would likely have to do
without a specialist spinner - Jason Krejza - or omit batting
all-rounder Steve Smith. Neither option would be done readily by
the team, with Krejza's cause helped by subcontinental conditions
being ideal for slow bowling and Smith's high rating among
selectors for his aggressive batting and his improving
leg-spin.